Blog Tour- BRAZEN by Katherine Longshore and a Giveaway!

Today I have my buddy Katherine Longshore stopping by to talk about the music behind BRAZEN! Check it out and make sure to enter the awesome giveaway below! And as always I will have videos for my favorite songs!
Haven't heard of BRAZEN? Check it out!

Title: BRAZEN

Author: Katherine Longshore

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Pub. Date: June 12, 2014

Pages: 528

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

Mary Howard has always lived in the shadow of her powerful family. But when she’s married off to Henry Fitzroy, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, she rockets into the Tudor court’s inner circle. Mary and “Fitz” join a tight clique of rebels who test the boundaries of court’s strict rules with their games, dares, and flirtations. The more Mary gets to know Fitz, the harder she falls for him, but is forbidden from seeing him alone. The rules of court were made to be pushed…but pushing them too far means certain death. Is true love worth dying for?

Now on to the post! I've added some videos and there's YouTube links to the other ones.

BRAZEN Playlist

I love music.  I definitely lean toward a certain tone and genre—something alternative/rock/folk.  I have a distinct love of great guitar and surprising harmonies.  But more than that, I love lyrics.  I’m a word person, so for me the words of a song often matter more than the music and melody behind them.  I don’t often listen to music when I write—I find the words distracting—but listen to my playlists while walking or washing dishes or driving in order to keep my head in the essence and ambience of the story.  All of these songs contributed in some way to how I see the main characters of BRAZEN, and to their actions.

Firework by Katy Perry.  My playlists don’t usually include mainstream pop music, but I wanted to be able to play this song for my narrator, Mary Howard FitzRoy.  She felt buried by her family, by her society, by her situation, and this song is an anthem to overcoming all of that.  This also applies to Raise Your Glass by Pink.  Both songs are pretty brazen, don’t you think?

I’m Just a Girl by No Doubt.  Because being trapped in Tudor England would make me feel like I’ve had it up to here, too.  I’m sure Mary did.

Rumour Has It by Adele.  I love this song--its insistent beat and its twisty ending.  I could totally see Anne Boleyn singing it in the galleries of Hampton Court with Mary and her friends as backup.

Gutless by Hole.  Showing my grunge roots here.  Mary never gets so angry that she would express herself this vehemently, but I could see her mother doing so…

Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.  My even deeper roots go back to theater, and though I could never sing, I love musicals.  Wicked is a brilliant piece of work theatrically and musically, and I love this song about shaking off the past and expectations, and believing in one’s own abilities and desires.

The Rake’s Song by the Decemberists.  This is a song about infanticide and the titular “rake” divesting himself of his troublesome wife and offspring.  Remind you of anyone?  It helped me get a little bit inside Henry’s head.

What a Good Boy by the BarenakedLadies.  This song is in part about the chains of expectation—something both Mary Howard and Henry FitzRoy have to learn to sever, or accept.  But it’s also about bearing those expectations together.

Everything to Everyone by Everclear.  Because both Mary and Fitz try to hard to live up to the expectations placed on them, I figured both of them needed to hear this song.  Especially the line, “You’re blind to the fact that the hand you hold is the hand that holds you down.”

Letters to God by Boxcar Racer.  To me, this sounds like a song of someone who wishes he’d done more with his life—not ready for it to end.  It’s a trigger to inspire my characters to explore beyond the limitations set to them, because none of us wants to die without having really lived.

If I Ever Leave This World Alive by Flogging Molly.  The lyrics of this song speak for themselves.  So romantic, and yet so sad.

And…Ho Hey by the Lumineers.  Like I said at the beginning, I rarely listen to music while writing, but I had a terrible time with a particular scene in this novel.  I was on the fourth draft—reaching the end of what I could do with the book—and I needed inspiration.  I put my headphones on and listened to this song on repeat for almost an hour.  And I got the scene to where it needed to be.

Thanks so much Katy for sharing this playlist! I wanted to share all of the videos because I love your choices but this would have been a looonnngggg post lol!

About Katherine:

Katherine Longshore grew up on the northern California coast. At university, she created her own major in Cross-Cultural Studies and Communications, planning to travel and write. Forever. Four years, six continents and countless pairs of shoes later, she went to England for two weeks, stayed five years and discovered history. She now lives in California with her husband, two children and a sun-worshiping dog.

Where you can find Katherine.

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive all 3 books signed International.

2 winners will receive signed copies of Brazen US Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

Week One:

6/2/2014- Literary Exploration- Review

6/2/2014- The Anne Boleyn Files- Guest Post

6/3/2014- Romantic Reads and Such- Interview

6/4/2014- Page Turners- Review

6/5/2014- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Guest Post

6/6/2014- Parajunkee's View- Interview

Week Two:

6/9/2014- Gone With The Words- Review

6/10/2014- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Interview

6/11/2014- Bewitched Bookworms- Guest Post and Review

6/12/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

6/13/2014- Mundie Moms- Review

6/13/2014- Fiktshun- Interview